Is Catalina going to break Civ4?

[OscarWildebeest]

The title says it all, really, but one of the 'features' of Catalina is it no longer supports 32-bit applications, which Civ4 is. Does anyone know if there's any way to keep Civ4 functioning in Catalina (whether natively or on Steam)?

 

[Lennier]

To the best of my knowledge, no.

 

[shteebo]

It's my understanding it will no longer work, based on a notice on the Aspyr site and a generic Apple popup that warned me it "needed to be upgraded" after I installed it from Steam. Personally, I'd rather have Civ4 than Catalina, but I'm sure they'll force me to upgrade somehow.

Off Topic: Does anybody know if there's a way to run the Steam Civ4 in a MacOS window or is it full-screen only? (Neither ^-Command-F or Alt-Enter work. I can Command-Enter out, however.)

 

[Xyth]

Yes, it breaks it completely. Not only does Catalina drop support for 32 bit apps, it drops support for OpenGL and Python 2.3. All of which are necessary for the Mac version of Civ4. This applies to the Steam version as well. Aspyr are officially dropping support for Civ4, so there will be no fixes coming.

It's also currently impossible to run the Windows version of Civ4 via WINE as this also relies on 32 bit code and OpenGL.

The only options are to run the Windows version of Civ4 via Bootcamp or via virtualisation (Parallels, Fusion, etc).

 

[OscarWildebeest]

Well, hot dang, that's a shame. Xyth's HR is still the game Civ should have been, and there's no equivalent of that for Civ6 AFAIK.

 

[AlanH]

Can you run Civ4 in Mojave in a virtual machine? How to Run 32-Bit Apps in macOS Catalina | PCMag.comhttps://www.pcmag.com › article › how-to-run-32-bit-apps-in-macos-catali...

Too busy right now, but I'll try to find some time to test it asap

 

[Xyth]

Sounds like Codeweavers (CrossOver) are having some preliminary success in getting 32bit Windows software working via WINE: https://www.codeweavers.com/about/blogs/ken/2019/10/3/crossover-for-catalina-progress-october-3-2019. Worth keeping an eye on their progress. WINE is usually less hassle and not as resource intensive as using a VM.

Well, hot dang, that's a shame. Xyth's HR is still the game Civ should have been, and there's no equivalent of that for Civ6 AFAIK.

I've been running the Windows version of Civ4 via WINE for a while now. Not upgrading to Catalina until I finish the next update of HR. After that I guess I'll have to run it in Parallels (which I do sometimes when debugging). But it probably mean I'll have to drop support for the Mac version after that since I'll have no way of running the Mac version anymore for testing.

Can you run Civ4 in Mojave in a virtual machine? How to Run 32-Bit Apps in macOS Catalina | PCMag.comhttps://www.pcmag.com › article › how-to-run-32-bit-apps-in-macos-catali...

Too busy right now, but I'll try to find some time to test it asap

My understanding is that virtualised macOS is unable to access any type of graphics acceleration, which probably makes it quite painful for any sort of gaming. I've never tried though, be interesting to hear your results.

Unless people need a Mojave VM for other reasons as well, I'd expect people are far better off just virtualising the Windows version instead. Fewer bugs, full mod support and runs smoother.

 

[s.bernbaum]

I have two Macs. (Three really but the third one is old.) On one of them, I run Snow Leopard. That is where I have CIV installed. It also happens to be my main computer where I run most of my useful software, without having to worry about what Apple wants me to do. Yes, it is all unsupported by the original publishers but so is CIV. On my other Mac I run Mojave and mainly only use it to access web sites where the older browser no longer works. So, if you have an older but not too old Mac around you can have one that you only use for CIV and never "upgrade" the OS beyond Mojave or earlier version. Another option is to get an older Mac just for that purpose. They are fairly cheap either online or from stores that take them in trade when they sell a new one.

 

[MacBaldrick]

The other alternative is to put your existing Mojave OS on a separate partition or external drive. I even have an old Snow Leopard partition on an old backup drive to access some old software. You have to boot into it just like Bootcamp but this method avoids having to obtain a copy of Windows (and a windows copy of Civ) if you already have the mac version.

 

[Evil Beejeebers]

So OSX has no 32bit applications at all, even things like the text editor are 64bit?

It's a shame that they can get away with making 32bit apps obsolete just like that especially when we know full well that the hardware supports 32bit just fine.

 

[s.bernbaum]

So OSX has no 32bit applications at all, even things like the text editor are 64bit?

It's a shame that they can get away with making 32bit apps obsolete just like that especially when we know full well that the hardware supports 32bit just fine.

I agree which is why I have not and plan to never downgrade my system to Catalina, unless they change this nonsense in a future upgrade.

 

[Evil Beejeebers]

I agree which is why I have not and plan to never downgrade my system to Catalina, unless they change this nonsense in a future upgrade.

We now know why they broke 32bit code, easier to run on their next gen macs.

 

[Jerrymander]

Apple also has no qualms about immediately antiquating their hardware (hello, FireWire), so should we be surprised at the ruthless improvement of software?

 

[MacBaldrick]

Now, following an upgrade of my Parallels on Catalina, I can run my 32 bit PC version OK where previously it was flaky. I presume Parallels must convert any 32 bit commands which are still permitted in Win10 to 64 bit versions for Catalina.